Two Ukrainian oligarchs have established the world’s first Jewish 24-hour television news channel, which started broadcasting last week.
Officials for the channel, funded by Igor Kolomoisky and Vadym Rabinovich at a cost of $5 million, said it was aimed at presenting a Jewish perspective on world events.
Political analysts said the nonprofit channel, called JN1, looks like an effort by the oligarchs to boost their international reputations to strengthen their political cover, much like many other billionaire Ukrainians have in recent years to guard against political pressure.
JN1 has bureaus in Kyiv, Tel Aviv and Brussels, and hopes to open further offices in Washington, Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow next year. According to an editor, the channel employs more than 50 people at its Kyiv production center. The programming can be viewed on YouTube and is available in America, Europe and Israel via satellite and cable packages.
The channel is supposed to “look at world affairs through Jewish glasses,” the Brussels bureau chief, Alexander Zanzer, told British daily The Guardian.
A Jewish perspective however does not mean a “unified Jewish vision” the channel’s Kyiv-based chief editor, Peter Dickinson, told the Kyiv Post. “We rather see the channel as a platform on which the voices of different Jewish communities are raised and their viewpoints are presented,” he added.
As an example, Dickinson named the channel’s reporting of Palestine’s attempt to gain membership of the United Nations. “Whereas most channels focused on the Palestinian perspective on the issue, we reported the viewpoints of different Jewish groups within Israel. We did not demonstrate a unified standpoint but reported on Peace Now actions (an Israeli group of activists known for defending Palestinian interests), as well as on the opinions of settlers,” he said.
Kolomoisky is Ukraine’s second richest man, with a fortune of more than $6 billion, according to the Kyiv Post list of richest Ukrainians from December 2010. Rabinovich is a wealthy businessman who is vice president of the European Jewish Union. Kolomoisky is the president.
Dickinson said the oligarchs “saw an opportunity” on the television market. “The rational is diversification, there is no such Jewish platform so far. If they would not have done it now, other funding bodies would have done it,” he added.
Political analysts consider the channel a way for the oligarchs to protect themselves against any possible pressure in an increasingly tough environment, where loyalty to the authorities is widely seen as being needed to ensure protection from administrative and legal pressure.
“It’s well known that Jewish oligarchs in Ukraine use the Jewish lobby to protect themselves,” said political analyst Vadym Karasiov. “The TV channel can be seen as another instance of Kolomoisky and Rabinovich doing this. They are already using the European Jewish Council for this purpose.”
Kolomoisky and Rabinovich could not be reached for comment.
Ukrainian oligarchs have in recent years tried to buff up their images by supporting nonprofit initiatives. Viktor Pinchuk, son-in-law of former President Leonid Kuchma, organizes the annual three-day Yalta European Strategy conference, bringing together global and Ukrainian leaders, while Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, established the Foundation for Effective Governance.
Kyiv Post staff writer Rina Soloveitchik can be reached at [email protected]
